The Wild Book

by Juan Villoro, published 2017

“Books are the external memory of mankind–a warehouse of memories.”

Children's Book - The wild bookThis children’s book is definitely one of a kind. I have read a number of books where books are the main characters, but this story takes it a bit further. Obviously somewhat of a fantasy, the story revolves around the relationship between books and their readers. In particular, one young boy in the story is a magical reader, who can invoke the power and support of the books around him, to help others. This is a real oversimplification of the story, but I can’t really capture the intricacies of this children’s book, except to say, it is a wonderful homage to books and reading, in the form of an adventure and real-life family problems.

I think of similar children’s books, like A Week Without Tuesday, where again the books are a living force. However, the difference is that The Wild Book has a weightiness to it that others don’t have. It’s possible this is due to the translation, and choice of words used, when translating this from the original Spanish. But I think more likely, it is because it has more of a flavor of the author’s mythic culture from Mexico, rather than the light-weight Hollywood culture of America. It’s not that this children’s book is dark, but there is a darkness about it- for example, a lot of the action takes place in a room with no light.

I liked reading this, and would recommend it for serious children who love reading and are willing to be with the book until the end. Obviously, it is also a wonderful children’s book for anyone of Mexican descent, as the author is well-known in his home country.

(Note: There is a book with the same name by Margaret L’engle. Be sure to get the right one!)

Find this children’s book on Amazon
Find this book at your local independent bookstoreSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org